Ikki, who was looking forward, turned his gaze to the Goddess beside him and slowly said, "I can't say you are wrong; to be honest, I don't know much about human emotions. I haven't had a long life like you, so I haven't had many experiences with them..."
He paused, and in his mind, all his memories, from when he was a baby to the present moment, passed one by one like a movie.
Ikki smiled softly before continuing. "I know about love—maternal love, paternal love, friendship love, and even romantic love..." He looked into the depths of Aphrodite's blue eyes with a hint of pink and continued, "Sometimes the issues are complicated, and the answers are simple..."
"Your view of the drama in love being the most interesting part makes it seem unpleasant and makes people want to avoid it. Of course, liking someone sometimes makes us suffer; sometimes it makes us lonelier, but above all, it brings us indescribable happiness."
"I may not have lived a long life like you, so I don't have much experience with life. I may not be a divinity related to love. But even someone inexperienced like me when it comes to love can see that your sense of love is distorted. It is unpleasant and disappointing to see the 'vision' of love from the Goddess of Love herself being this way; I thought it would be deeper and more beautiful, not something so childish."
Listening to his words, Aphrodite's mind went blank, with turbulent emotions in her heart as she stared fixedly into Ikki's eyes.
Earlier, when he looked in her direction, the Goddess of Love's world turned upside down; she was dazed and perplexed. Her brain short-circuited, and her mind went blank; she didn't know where she was or who she was; she even forgot to breathe.
When he began to speak again, Aphrodite snapped out of her incoherence, although her thoughts remained blank. At that moment, it was as if everything around her disappeared, replaced by a completely white space, and all that existed was Ikki and his perfection—nothing more. His beautiful and deep gentle voice entered her ears, like an addictive immortal wine; people would get lost in the taste.
As if he had stolen her soul, she found herself staring into his blue eyes like flawless agate, surrounded by electricity, completely incapable of diverting her gaze. While she listened attentively to his words...
When he began to speak, his eyes, which had only disappointment and indifference, along with his words, made Aphrodite feel her heart being stabbed. It was an indescribable pain in her chest, and without her realizing it, tears began to gather in the corners of her eyes.
Especially when he spoke about the fact that she found the drama in love to be the most interesting part contained in the emotion, at that moment, her gaze was filled with disappointment, indifference, and even sadness—this almost made her cry. She really thought that drama was the best part of a relationship... Only her words made her question what true love was, as never before.
It wasn't her fault; the reason for this was his "Charm," which was off the charts and had always been consciously controlled by him since he invented presence manipulation, but he had now released this magnetic aura to the extreme, and that was the effect.
It was too much even for the Goddess of Beauty to bear.
He realized that she was completely blank and utterly hypnotized by him. Because of this, he had an opportunity to say everything he wanted to the Goddess of Love with better effects and without interruptions; perhaps this lesson would serve as a learning experience for the Goddess.
Normally, Aphrodite might not have listened to his words, would have been amused or angry at him debating her domain—saying that the way she saw love was distorted. She could have been affected by his words or not; perhaps she would have tried to curse him with a terrible love life or infertility. The things that could have happened during their conversation would have varied.
After all, she was a temperamental Goddess. If we take her stories into account...
But... thanks to his "charm," none of this happened. Besides being completely enchanted, Aphrodite was enormously affected by his words; her tears were proof of that. This was the effect he was looking for.
While he thought about how his power to enchant others was quite terrifying, Aphrodite watched him thinking he was just distracted by something before returning to normal and making an action that made her soul vibrate.
As soon as he came out of his thoughts, Ikki noticed the tears in the corners of the Goddess of Love's eyes. He gently wiped her tears with a soft gesture of his hand. Then he began to speak slowly.
"I'm sorry if I was rude. I decided to be honest; I think I was foolish to think you would have a deeper view of love. From the stories I've read about you, I should have guessed. I guess I overestimated you; I had high expectations, and unfortunately, I was disappointed..."
His words pierced Aphrodite's heart. She bit her lower lip, looking into Ikki's sapphire blue eyes, which were filled only with disappointment. She almost cried again, tears gathering in her eyes once more.
Ikki smiled and leaned closer. Using an indescribable rhythm, he gently blew near her ear. He spoke words that were as tempting as they were poisonous.
"The stories portray you as a prostitute, not that I have a problem with you sleeping with countless men and some women; I'm not that superficial. The issue is; I saw your gaze from before, your desire for me and lust were burning; I just wanted to make it clear..."
"I wouldn't sleep with you!"
"That won't happen. Sure, you have a beautiful appearance, but that's all. I'm not a man who thinks with his lower part; I want to be with someone I love, and honestly, I don't see myself loving you..."
As soon as he got close to her, his intoxicating perfume made Aphrodite blush; she seemed intoxicated, with her eyes hazy and a red tint on her cheeks.
Feeling his breath grazing her neck made the heart of the Goddess of Love throb and beat faster.
She felt him gently whisper in her ear, at that moment, Aphrodite felt her body become incredibly warm, as if she were in a sauna. Her lustful thoughts, which had been contained earlier due to the short circuit in her brain and her blank mind, came flooding back. However, as soon as she finished hearing his words, the Goddess became dazed; her mind short-circuited again, and countless emotions invaded her heart, as if an entire cavalry of horses was passing through her chest, their hooves trampling mercilessly on her heart and feelings.
Obviously, the state of the Goddess in front of him could not escape Ikki's senses; he simply left her in silence, satisfied with the chaos his charm and words had caused in her, hopeful that she would reflect on it.
It was lamentable that the Goddess of Love saw love this way.
It worked to a certain extent; Aphrodite began to look down with a distracted and lost expression.
While Ikki sat calmly beside her, his eyes were fixed on the horizon.
Aphrodite's mind was a complete chaos; Ikki's words undoubtedly wreaked havoc on her mind and heart, striking her at her core in an inexplicable way; emotionally, she was feeling a myriad of emotions at that moment. The boy's words, whom she considered the perfect specimen of a man, echoed endlessly in her mind, sending the Goddess into a contemplative state.
When he said that her view of love was distorted, when he mentioned that he was disappointed with her for having such a childish and shallow understanding of love, every time those words repeated in her mind, the image of his eyes, filled with disappointment, pierced her soul. She felt an indescribable tightness in her heart every time this happened; she could not refute it because perhaps deep down she knew it was true.
At the moment she said she thought drama was the most interesting part of love, it was because it ignited a relationship and made it spicier. It was thrilling to watch mortals and gods during that time; love would be in a constant state of change; sometimes it was fiery and full of intrigue, sometimes it was thrilling and obsessive, and many other times love would turn into a spicy combination of hatred and passion, a wonderful drama in her opinion.
She had many passions throughout her immortal life. Some were as intense as her passion for Adonis, a man who was memorable in her life.
At that time, she had been struck by one of her son Eros's arrows, Cupid, and fell in love with Adonis. During her time with him, it would have been perfect if Persephone hadn't intervened between the two.
Unfortunately, their romance ended tragically when Adonis was killed by a boar during one of his hunts, in which the Goddess of Love suspected that her other lover, Ares, was responsible.
Among her countless passions, some were intense, others were a bit innocent and fun, others were spicy and exciting, and some were just a little memorable.
She always thought that her experience in love was unparalleled; as the Goddess of Love, she had experienced all kinds of love. But after Ikki's words, she began to question this…
Perhaps… she had never truly fallen in love with anyone.
As she had countless lovers, Aphrodite had experienced all kinds of love: spicy and exciting love, intense and passionate love, love made of compatibility between bodies; the latter was one of her favorites, as it often led to some of the best sex of her immortal life.
But… she had not found her true love…
A love where… it was not just about sex and pleasure; just being by the other person's side would make her feel infinitely and indescribably happy; seeing their smile, their laughter, experiencing moments from the simplest to the most complex, where every second spent with that person would be the best thing in the world and everything else would become irrelevant beside them.
In all her immortal life, she had not found a man who made her feel that way. She had never experienced a love where she cared more about the other person's happiness than her own, no matter how painful the choices she had to face were.
All the lovers she had always tried to please her in every way possible, in return she did something unforgettable in bed for them; it was never the other way around; she never cared for a man enough to sacrifice her happiness. That was why she had never truly loved.
After all, true love cannot be explained, controlled, or rationalized; it simply takes over. It's a drug, an addiction, a journey between heaven and hell, back and forth, without stopping.
With thoughts like these infesting her mind, Aphrodite stared at the ground distractedly, ignoring the world around her; her sensual aura had vanished long ago, and her blue eyes had lost their rosy touch.
She felt bitter, sad, and imposing when she realized that he would never sleep with her. And she was utterly devastated when he said he would never love her; these emotions were more evident in her heart at that moment.
Normally, as a temperamental and cunning goddess, any mortal who dared to say all the things Ikki said would have been cursed with something terrible, like making the mortal fall in love with a dog, rendering him infertile, or even giving him a horrible love life.
She could be very vengeful against those who disrespect her.
It was just different with Ikki, even after he said those words. Aphrodite simply could not bring herself to hate the perfect specimen of a man; she was inexplicably affected by him in a way that only the Goddess of Love knew. Moreover, Ikki's words were not meant to disrespect her; they were harsh, but… they were his honest and straightforward opinion. He could have been ruder, but he wasn't; he explained to her calmly and even teased her in the end.
A beautiful provocation, in her opinion...
The two remained silent for some time, each lost in their own thoughts.
As dusk began to fall, Ikki broke the silence and said, "Aphrodite, earlier you said you wanted to ask me some questions in exchange for answering one for me. Go ahead; I promise I'll answer honestly..."
Aphrodite did not look at him or make any other gesture; she just kept looking down as she remained silent.
However, the silence did not last long; she gently asked, "What is love to you?"